Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Ecuador and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971.
I was there at the first Neu! show in Düsseldorf.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1960 to 1972.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Glasgow and Manila.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Philadelphia kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970 at the first Onyeabor practice in a loft in Enugu.
I was working on the chamberlin sounds with much patience.
I was there when Nile Rodgers started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx to the rock kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Fort Wilson Riot. All the underground hits.
All The Mummies tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Janne Schatter record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal dance hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a rhodes and a linndrum and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Warren Ellis record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your mellotron and bought a harpsichord.
I hear that you and your band have sold your harpsichord and bought a mellotron.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Sexual Harrassment,
Tom Boy,
Jeru the Damaja,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Masta Ace, Craig G, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane,
Lalo Schifrin,
Letta Mbulu,
The Sisters of Mercy,
Lonnie Liston Smith,
The Leaves,
N.O.R.E. Featuring Pharrell,
D'Angelo,
Bad Manners,
Robert Görl,
Amon Düül,
Blake Baxter,
X-Ray Spex,
The Neon Judgement,
Ohio Players,
The Slackers,
Man Eating Sloth,
Joensuu 1685,
David Axelrod,
Archie Shepp,
Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx,
Sound Behaviour,
Marmalade,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Charles Mingus,
La Düsseldorf,
Public Enemy,
Sex Pistols,
Tres Demented,
Blossom Toes,
Franke,
Alison Limerick,
Anthony Braxton,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Depeche Mode,
B.T. Express,
Stetsasonic,
The Doobie Brothers,
Brass Construction,
Oblivians,
Average White Band,
Mission of Burma,
Bluetip,
Glambeats Corp.,
David McCallum,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Stiv Bators,
Little Man,
Pole,
K-Klass,
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
The Five Americans,
The Gap Band,
The Doors,
Wasted Youth,
Kango’s Stein Massive,
Bob Dylan,
Scratch Acid,
Johnny Osbourne,
Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.